English Word Formation

Deny A. Kwary http://www.kwary.net Airlanga University

Types of Word Formation

1. Compounding2. Prefixation3. Suffixation4. Conversion5. Clipping6. Blends7. Backformation8. Acronyms9. Onomatopoeia10. Eponyms11. Toponyms

1. Compounding

Definition: Two or more words joined together to form a new word.

Examples: Home + work homework Pick + pocket pickpocket

The meaning of a compound is not always the sum of the meanings of its parts.

Types of compounds: Compound nouns Compound verbs Compound adjectives

Compound Nouns

1. Boyfriend, hatchback

2. Cut-throat, breakfast

3. Sunshine, birth control

4. Software, fast food

5. In-crowd, overkill

6. Drop-out, put-on

1. Noun + Noun

2. Verb + Noun

3. Noun + Verb

4. Adjective + Noun

5. Particle + Noun

6. Verb + Particle

Compound Verbs

1. Carbon-copy, sky-dive

2. Fine-tune

3. Overbook

4. Bad-mouth

1. Noun + Verb

2. Adjective + Verb

3. Particle + Verb

4. Adjective + Noun

Compound Adjectives

1. Capital-intensive

2. Deaf-mute

3. Coffee-table

4. Roll-neck

5. White-collar

6. Before-tax

7. Go-go

1. Noun + Adjective

2. Adjective + Adjective

3. Noun + Noun

4. Verb + Noun

5. Adjective + Noun

6. Particle + Noun

7. Verb-verb

2. Prefixation

Class-changing prefixes: a- asleep V to Adj be- bewitch N to V en- enslave N to V

Class-maintaining prefixes: in- indefinite Adj to Adj fore- foreman N to N Etc.

3. Suffixation

Suffixes forming Nouns N from N: -dom kingdom N from V: -ee employee N from Adj: -ce dependence

Suffixes forming Verbs V from N: -ify beautify V from Adj: -en shorten

Suffixes forming adjectives Adj from N: -al educational Adj from V: -able understandable Adj from Adj: -ish greenish

Suffixes forming Adverbs: -ly, -ward, and –wise.

4. Conversion

Definition: Assigning an already existing word to a new syntactic category.

Types of Conversion Verb to Noun: to hit a hit Adj to N: a final game a final N to V: a sign to sign Adj to V: an empty box to empty

5. Clipping

Definition: Shortening a polysyllabic word by deleting one or more syllables

Examples: Gasoline Gas Hamburger Burger delicatessen microphone

deli

mike

6. Blends

Definition: Similar to compounds, but parts of the words are deleted.

Examples: Motor + hotel Motel Breakfast + lunch Brunch Wireless + Fidelity Sheep + goat

Wi-fi Shoat

7. Back-formations

Definition: Creative reduction due to incorrect morphological analysis.

Examples: editor (1649)

edit (1791) television (1907)

televise (1927) Paramedical (1921)

paramedic (1967)

8. Acronyms

Definition: Words derived from the initial letters of several words and use them as a new word

Examples: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

SWOT Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

SCUBA

SWBAT

PIN, laser

9. Onomatopoeia

Definition: Words created to sound like the thing that they name.

English Japanese Tagalog Indonesian

Cock-a-doo Kokekokko Kuk-kakauk Kukuruyuk

Meow Nya Niyaw Meong

10. Eponyms

Definition: a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named.

Examples: Celcius (Anders Celcius) Cook Islands (James Cook) Ford Cars

11. Toponyms

Definition: a place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.

Examples: Montana (‘mountains’ in Spanish) Mississippi (‘big river’ in Chippewa)

Identify the type of word formation:

1. information, commercials Informercials2. Babysitter babysit3. Demi + god Demigod4. Do + able doable5. A catalogue to catalogue6. Drama + comedy dramedy7. Game + pad gamepad8. Greek + god Greek god

= Blend= Back-formation= Prefixation= Suffixation= Conversion= Blend = Compound= Compound

MULTIPLE PROCESSES

For example, the term deli seems to have become a common American English expression via a process of first borrowing delicatessen (from German) and then clipping that borrowed form.

If someone says that problems with the project have snowballed, the final word can be analyzed as an example of compounding in which snow and ball were combined to form the noun snowball, which was then turned into a verb through conversion

STUDY QUESTIONS

1 What is the difference between etymology and entomology? 2 Which of the following pairs contains an example of calque?

How would you describe the other(s)? (a) footobooru (Japanese) – football (English) (b) tre´ning (Hungarian) – training (English) (c) luna de miel (Spanish “moon of honey”) – honeymoon

(English) (d) jardin d’enfants (French “garden of children”) – Kindergarten

(German“children garden”)